That's the part that grates on me. Because an algorithm can't decide that. A person has to. Instead of saying "popular on Medium" I wish they'd be honest and say "hand selected" or "editor's pick" or "Medium recommends". Because they are mostly NOT popular on Medium until Medium makes them popular. Honesty is nice. It inspires trust. Lack of honesty does the opposite. People start to notice stuff like that. Just like you did.